Sparrow
by whorecruxes
Summary: Mauarder Era fic, I guess you could say AU. Remus gets a girlfriend with no help from his friends. Quite literally no help. R&R please!
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: This is my absolute first attempt at HP fan fiction. Hopefully it's alright! Should also point out that this was based on a head-cannon post on Tumblr and (technically) still coincides with the books. **

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><p>Sally Capper sat in a secluded spot near the Black Lake; her book resting on her legs and open to a page that had little to do with her Transfiguration homework. No matter how hard she tried, she just couldn't find anything on the specific methods of Human Transfiguration. She had even been so desperate as to try to use a summoning charm for the information and all that had happened was that the book flew up and hit her in the face. She had caught onto the fact she had broken her nose before it started to bleed and fixed it to the best of her abilities, but it was probably going to be swollen for a while.<p>

She flipped through the book with a lazy flick of her wand, scanning each page hopelessly. Why would McGonagall assign such a ludicrous assignment that one wouldn't be able to find the right information to? Sally was beginning to get frustrated. She didn't want to admit it, but she needed help.

"Oi! Snivellius!"

Not again. Sally looked up from her book, frowning. James Potter and his friends were tormenting Lily's friend…yet again. James and Sirius were pointing their wands at an air-suspended Severus with an eager short boy bobbing between the two. Sally couldn't ever remember his name, simply because it wasn't worth remembering. He hardly ever talked to someone who wasn't in that group. And then there was Remus, on the outskirts of the throng of people watching the boy be tormented.

Then, it hit her.

"Remus!" Sally called, chewing on her bottom lip while she waited. When he didn't reply, she shoved her book off her lap, stood up and went forward about a foot, and called for Remus again. This time, he looked up from his book, and over to Sally. She motioned for him to come closer to her and went back over to where she left her book, picked it up and closed it over her finger as to not lose her place.

"Hi Sally, what do…" said Remus as he approached her, trailing off when he got near enough that they didn't have to yell over the ruckus behind them. "Sally, what happened to you?" he asked in a seemingly concerned, albeit confused voice.

"What're you on about?"

"Your face," he pointed out, "It's covered in blood. Are you okay?" His eyes flicked from Sally's gaze to the lower half of her face, which was coated in a thin layer of half dried blood.

"Oh," she mumbled, color creeping onto her pale face. "I…had a bit of a run-in with a summoning spell," she explained. Her voice had now become quiet and airy and laced with her embarrassment. "I'll just take care of that." She reached into her robes, emblazoned with a badger, and drew her wand. She pointed it at her own face. Remus, however, had his wand out and gave her a small smile.

"I'll do that for you," he told her. "No need to hurt yourself any more than you already have." Sally nodded, dropping her wand arm to her side before putting her wand away. She was embarrassed; he more than likely thought she was completely incompetent, helpless, even, like that other boy he knew. He mumbled a few words, waving his wand ever so slightly as he did. After a couple waves, he nodded and pocketed his wand.

"There you go. Much better." He cleared his throat, looking over his shoulder to where he had came from (Severus was currently on the ground, looking up at a smirking James and a laughing Sirius) and then back to her.

"Why don't you ever do anything about them?" Sally questioned, standing up on her toes to get a better look of what was going on. Transfiguration homework left her mind as she got a full view of why there was so much noise in what used to be a secluded area of the grounds.

"They're good at heart, really," he told her, looking back over, "They just…have an interesting sense of humor."

"But you're a prefect, Remus! You know full well you'd never let anyone else do this," Sally pointed out, "Why do they get leniency? It hardly seems fair." He smiled, shaking his head at her.

"Spoken like a true Hufflepuff," he chuckled, shaking his head once again. "They wouldn't take me seriously, even if I tried." Sally made a face at Remus, who simply shrugged. She shook her head at him, shoving her Transfiguration book into his arms.

"Do you want me to help you with McGona—" he started but she held up a hand and he fell silent.

"If you won't do something, I will," huffed Sally. "It's not fair they just torment that boy." With that, Sally strode passed him and towards the crowd of people only to find someone else had stood up to James.

"Why don't you just leave him alone?" shouted a red head, standing between Sirius, James, and Severus.

"Alright…we'll leave Snivelly alone, Evans…If you'll go out with me," affirmed James, getting a rather smug look on his face. Lily rolled her eyes and scoffed.

"In your dreams," she told him, "Now just leave Severus, and me, for that matter, alone."

"Aww, Evans," crooned James, "Don't you know that Snivellius wouldn't be half the boyfriend I would be?"

"She said leave the both of them alone," snapped Sally as she placed herself next to her friend, "If only your capacity to understand English was half as big as your ego."

In all honesty, Sally didn't care very much for Severus. He was rather rude to her when Lily wasn't around and relished in making her feel dumb. Still, it bothered her that Prefects (especially Remus) never did a single thing to help him. Except the Slytherin Prefects and that was only because James and his friends were Gryffindors. No one deserved the kind of torment they were subjecting him to and Sally wasn't going to sit there idly and let them get away with it.

"Who're you again?" James asked Sally, eying her curiously. When he saw her full outfit, he nodded knowingly and smirked. "Then again, no one really cares, do they? You're just a Hufflepuff."

"And a less than bright one at that!" interjected the other boy who's name Sally couldn't remember. "Always asks Remus for tutoring!"

"Oh, so _you're_ the girl?" sniggered Sirius, eying Sally now as well. "Remind me to tell Moony that he can do better than this." She shifted uncomfortably on her feet, glancing over at Lily, who gave her a reassuring smile.

"Just walk away," Lily said, "This is over."

"Says who?" questioned Sirius.

"Says me," a new voice said. All of the students turned to face the source of the voice to see a severe looking Professor McGonagall; her mouth was the thinnest Sally had ever seen. "Would someone like to tell me what's going on here?" she pressed. Her gaze flicked between the three boys and the two girls and then to random students in the rapidly thinning crowd.

"Nothing, Professor," Lily said, smiling at her, "Sally and I were just having a little chat with Sirius and James. Nothing more." Sally nodded in agreement, giving her a smile as well.

"Well, you'd better make sure that's all it is," Professor McGonagall warned. "I'd hate to have to take points away from my own house."

"Don't worry, Professor, we'll just be leaving now," James informed, giving Lily a wink before walking off walking off with Sirius, the other boy tailing behind them. The other boy, however, stopped and looked around.

"Where's Remus?" he asked.

"Don't worry about it, Peter! Just come on!" Sirius called to him. He nodded, gave a look to Lily and Sally and scurried off. Sally looked around while McGonagall was going on about the importance of the House Cup to Gryffindor (which made no sense as the remaining three were more non-Gryffindors than Gryffindors) and saw that Remus was nowhere to be seen. Her book was sitting on top of her bag a short distance away from her, but there was no Remus Lupin anywhere.

"We promise we won't be any trouble, Professor," Lily said. "Right, Sev?" Severus nodded.

"Very well," McGonagall said shortly. "Move along, then." Lily pulled Severus away, giving Sally a smile and a mouthed "Thank you" as they went. Sally gave the professor a smile and went back over to her stuff. Tucked into the cover of her book was a bit of parchment. On it, in thin, slanted writing was a couple sentences:

_I'm still working on McGonagall's homework as well. Find me there after lunch and I'll help with that composition. _

_-Remus_


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: I'm not going to be that person that asks for reviews, but I will ask just this once. Not so you guys can stroke my ego or anything like that, but I'm a little nervous about posting this and if anyone had any thoughts, I'd love to hear them. :)**

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><p>After lunch, Sally trudged up to the third floor. The library was somewhat empty, though that was to be expected because most of the school was on their way out of the Great Hall. Sally had snuck out while people emptied their plates of Treacle Tart. Remus had strolled passed the Hufflepuff table a while before and out of into the Entrance Hall. Sally had noticed him go passed and her friends had noticed her notice him.<p>

Once she had shaken them off on her way up the stairs, she had headed straight for the library. At first, it seemed like the only person who was in there was Madam Pince, who gave Sally a look that made her feel like maybe she had something on her face. Sally just diverted her gaze to her feet and navigated her way to plenty of shelves of books between her and the older woman. Luckily, that seemed to lead her right to Remus. He was sitting at a desk, his head down and looking at a book and papers that were strewn all over the desktop.

"Remus?" whispered Sally, inching closer to him. He looked up and smiled.

"I wasn't expecting you so soon," he told her. "I had hoped to be done with mine by the time you got here." She shrugged, taking a half step away from him.

"I can come back?" she offered. He shook his head and gave a good natured chuckle.

"It's quite alright," he replied, "Let me just make some room for you." He began to pile papers up on top of each other and moved his backpack off of the chair closest to him and looked up at her expectantly. Sally shrugged her own bag off of her shoulder and sat in the recently cleared seat.

"So, how much do you have done so far?" Sally took the parchment dedicated to the assignment and placed it in between the two of them. Scribbled on it was her name and an introduction and then a half-paragraph that was crossed out.

"Not very far," concluded Remus. "Luckily, I'm almost done."

The two sat there for at least three hours. Remus finished his own assignment and then began to help Sally rewrite her own. He didn't flat out do the assignment for her (he wouldn't even do that for James, Sirius or Peter) but he walked her through the information she needed. He had even pointed out other useful information that she didn't need for her assignment but should she ever attempt Human Transfiguration, she'd be able to do a better job of it. Even after they had finished the assignment, the two sat in their little corner of the library, talking. The ancient librarian would swoop in to investigate the source of happy noises. Every time she began to glare at them with her beady eyes, they'd suddenly become extremely interested in their finished assignments.

Remus, to Sally, was much more interesting when his group of friends were far, far away. It wasn't that he was a different person, or that there was even a different side to him, but without the loud, bold personalities of James Potter and Sirius Black, it was much easier to see the endearing, charming young man that was Remus Lupin.

"Remus! There you are!" a voice hissed. The two looked up from the Transfiguration book sitting on the desk between them (and there was a lot less space between them than before), assuming the footsteps they were hearing was Madam Pince yet again. However, they were the footsteps of Peter Pettigrew.

"Peter? What's going on?" Remus asked, clearing his throat afterwards and shifting his chair away from Sally.

"Sirius told me to come find you," squeaked Peter. "We need your…" he paused, "Help with something." Remus nodded, looking from the other boy to Sally and back.

"Right," he said, "That thing. I did promise to help," he stated. He began putting all his stuff together and stooped down for his back. "Tell them I'll be along in a minute, Peter." Peter nodded and headed back the way he came.

"I didn't mean to waste so much of your time," stated Sally as she glanced at her watch. He chuckled, shoving a stack of papers into the bag in front of him.

"You didn't waste my time, Sally. Trust me," he reassured. "I'll…I'll see you in class?" Sally nodded, giving him a smile that he reciprocated.

"I'll be there," she told him. He gave her a small wave before departing from the table. She smiled absentmindedly as he went, giggling quietly once he was out of sight. Never once had Sally thought about Remus as anything more than a friend, but the fact of the matter was that he was really, really lovely and smart and she had to admit, though she hadn't on her way in, she was going to leave the library fancying Remus Lupin.


	3. Chapter 3

Sally left the library a half hour later when Madam Pince kicked her out for not doing anything other than smiling and scribbling in her journal. Sally was beginning to think that woman was part dementor; she absolutely hated any sort of good feelings in the library. Still, there was the fact she was just sitting there that could have brought about her ejection.

The Hufflepuff common room was a good ten minute walk from the library. It was three floors down and all the way through the entrance hall. Sure, it was conveniently located for when one was hungry, but when trying to get back all by yourself, it was almost torturous. Sure, one could take the hidden passages down instead of the main corridors, but it wasn't actually much of a short cut and once Sally had reached her fourth year, it stopped being exciting and as a sixth year, it was downright boring.

What wasn't boring, however, was when Sally stepped to the bottom of the marble stairs and she was suddenly rendered immobile by someone standing just out of her sightline. All she could currently manage was to just stand there and wait to meet her fate. This was not going to end well for her.

"I knew the Hufflepuff common room was somewhere around here," a voice said from behind her. Soon enough, the source of the voice came into view. It was a beaming Peter Pettigrew and Sirius Black, whose wand was currently drawn and pointed right at Sally.

"I always wanted to know," mentioned Sirius. His eyes flittered to her bag. "Also always wanted to know what a girl carries in her bag. Do you mind if we take a look? Just stand there if you're alright with that." Sally's blood began to boil and she wanted so desperately to get her wand out of her pocket and treat the two of them to a taste of their own medicine but all she could do was stand there, watching as Sirius and Peter began to riffle through her stuff.

"Is this the Transfiguration work Remus helped you with?" Sirius asked, holding up what was the work Sally and Remus had just spent their time working on. "You won't mind if I borrow this, would you? I know Remus won't." With that, he pocketed the parchment and resumed his digging. There wasn't much that Sally was worried he'd find, it was more the fact he (or Peter) had made her like this and was now going through her bag. All that was in there was quills, ink, a few books and…

"Look at this!" Out of the bag came the journal she had just been writing in.

_No! Anything but that! Just put the journal back into the bag! _Sally was screaming inside her own head. Oh…how she longed to voice that.

"Is this a diary?" sniggered Peter as he plucked it from the other's hands. He flipped through the pages, beaming. "It is! James, get a load of this!" From behind her on the marble staircase, she heard the voice of James Potter.

"What're you two doing?"

"This very kind Hufflepuff has been lovely and let us see what it is a girl carries in her bag that makes it so heavy," Sirius explained, putting the bag down in front of Sally. He was clearly more interested in the journal than anything else that was in her bag. "And we stumbled upon this journal."

"And does she mind we look at that journal?" James asked in amused voice as he came into view. When he saw who it was, he smirked. "Oh, hello there," he greeted, chuckling a little. "My favorite Hufflepuff."

"I don't think she does," Sirius said, nudging James, "But I can't be sure. She seems to have frozen up on us."

"It must be because she doesn't happen upon such _dashing_ gentlemen very often, does she?" James supplied.

"I don't know," Peter said, "She seems to be quite infatuated with another one of the Marauders. Also, judging by last week entry, she's got a little problem with her summoning spells. Broken nose? You're really not a good witch, are you?" The three of them burst into laughter.

_The Marauders? What the hell is the Marauders?_

"Would it happen to be Moony?"

"Judging by today's entry, yes. Yes it would," Peter answered.

"Read us a few lines, then!" James said in an amused voice. "I'm sure you're just dying to share this with us, aren't you?" He and Sirius let out laughs that made Sally wish she could use magic more than anything. All she wanted was to be free to move so she could at least try and defend herself.

"Where to begin?" Peter flipped back two pages, his eyes scanning the pages. "Ah!" He cleared his throat. Just as he opened his mouth to begin reciting what was on the page, there was another person in the Entrance Hall.

"What are you guys up to now? Shouldn't you be upstairs, waiting for Filch to…What is this?" Remus Lupin came into view, giving each of his friends a confused look and then to Sally. "Sally? What are you doing here?"

"She's sticking around for the fun!" Peter laughed, waving the diary in his hands at his friend. Remus looked from the diary, to her.

"Sally, are you alright?"

"She's a little locked up at the moment," Sirius explained, smirking. "Probably because her favorite person is here!" James sniggered, making a kissy face complete with the noises. That sent the other two over the edge. And then it dawned on Remus what was going on here. He let out a heavy sigh and plucked the journal from Peter's hand. He bent down to grab the bag at Sally's immobile feet and shoved the journal in. He reached into his robes and pulled out his wand.

"This was just cruel," he said in a serious tone. He made a complicated movement with his wand and in an instant, Sally was free to move. Remus held out her bag to her, which she grabbed out of his hand with such force that he took a step back and gave her a concerned look.

"HOW…DARE…YOU," Sally huffed, glaring at James and Peter and Sirius in turn.

"Oh, cool off," Sirius said lazily. He flicked his wand upward and suddenly, Sally was drenched in water. They all stood there for a second, Sirius, Peter and James laughing with Remus and Sally staring at them. Sally took a couple deep breaths to try to calm herself, but it was too late; the damage was done and she burst into very noisy tears. Without another word, she sped off as fast she could without slipping towards the Hufflepuff common room.

"Sirius," Remus growled. "That wasn't funny." The other three had more or less doubled over with laughter.

"It was hilarious!" James guffawed. "D-Did you see the look on her face?"

"That was just cruel," Remus informed. "You went through her stuff and then you soaked her in water. That isn't a prank, that's just being a prat."

"Oh, lighten up, Moony," Peter chuckled, giving him a pat on the back. "We're just having a bit of fun!" Remus looked at each of his friends with a grave look on his face. He took a breath while he thought and they laughed before he decided it needed to be done.

"Fifteen points from Gryffindor," Remus stated. "Each." With that, the rubies in the counter on the wall furthest from them soared upwards. The three stopped laughing.

"And a week's detention."

"You're joking…right?" Sirius asked, "We were just playing around with her! Why do you care anyway? She's just a Hufflepuff."

"Her name is Sally," Remus snapped. "And just because she's a Hufflepuff doesn't make her second class. Being a Hufflepuff doesn't make her any less of a witch. She's a better person than any of you happen to be at the moment."

"Remus…we were just kidding around," James sighed, "Don't take things so seriously. It's not like we called her…you know…" he lowered his voice, "A mudblood or anything. Just played a little prank."

"That wasn't a prank," snapped Remus. "You made her cry. You might as well have called her that. She deserves an apology." With that, he turned on his heel and headed back up the marble staircase with his friends in a daze.


	4. Chapter 4

That afternoon had been absolutely mortifying to Sally. It was enough for her to realize that though it wasn't fair that they tormented Lily's friend, it wasn't worth trying to stand up to them because that meant she was just as much a target as he was.

Lily had been furious when Sally told her what had happened. They were sitting in the back of the History of Magic classroom, whispering as not to wake up the sleeping Hufflepuffs in front of them. She had been confused as to why Sally had blown off Remus (who Sally had always seemed to be on good terms with) when he waved and motioned for her to sit with him and instead had headed for Lily.

"That's awful!" whispered Lily when Sally had finished recounting what had happened yesterday, glaring at the back of James' head that was a few rows forward and to the right of the two of them. "Did Remus do anything?"

"Dunno," admitted Sally, "I doubt it, though. You know how he lets them get away with everything." The redhead shook her head, sitting back in her seat.

"That's ridiculous," she sighed. "Absolutely ridiculous. They really should take being a prefect away from him if he's not going to do anything about them."

"I agree," mumbled Sally. "But it's not up to us, is it?"

The rest of the class went by in relative silence, with an exception to the snoring of various students and Professor Binns going on about…something. Once it was time to leave, Sally bolted for the door, in order to avoid a certain group of Gryffindors. Lily was close behind her, trying to catch up.

"They were still packing up!" exclaimed Lily. "You can slow down!" With that, Sally slowed her pace from a jog to a walk and looked over her shoulder.

"You can't avoid them forever."

"I can try," Sally said shortly. "And believe me, I will."

"Sally!"

She and Lily glanced over their shoulders and in unison, let out a groan. They quickened their pace as Remus tried catching up to them, and they were close to losing him when they had to make an abrupt stop. Peeves had overturned an entire classroom of desks and lined them up in the hall. To make matters worse, he was pelting whoever tried to climb over them with ink pellets. Sally looked around for another exit, but it was no use.

"Sally, wait," panted Remus as he caught up to them. "I have something of yours." He shrugged his bookbag off his shoulders and dropped it on the floor. He reached into it and pulled out her Transfiguration work. "Sirius nicked it yesterday."

"I know," Sally said shortly. She took it from him, shoving it into her own open bag.

"Sally, I'm sorry about them. They're actually really…" he started.

"Nice people?" Sally finished. "Just leave it, Remus." She went to begin to brave her way through the desks and Peeve's ink pellets but Remus grabbed her arm. Sally glanced over at Lily, who just gave her a look and shrugged.

"Wait a moment," he said. "I took your advice, you know. The three of them have a week of detention for that. And I told them to apologize to you. Who knows if they will, though."

"That's nice, Remus. But I'm going to be late for Herbology," she told him. As she began to go through the sea of desks, Sirius joined the little crowd of people.

"Remus, shouldn't you be protecting your girlfriend from mean ol' Peeves?" Sirius asked loudly, nudging his friend. Remus glared at him, shaking his head.

"Not my girlfriend and you're still not funny," replied Remus coolly.

"You wish she was," Sirius teased. Remus opened and closed his mouth, unable to think of anything else to say.

That was enough to get Peeves' attention off of the first year near the end of the desks to Sally, who was only halfway through the desks. He began throwing ink pellets at her, and at first he missed but then he got her on her way over a desk. Now with a red face that was covered in blue ink, Sally jumped the rest of the desks and sped off down the corridor, away from Sirius and Remus.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: This chapter is a bit longer than I originally thought, but I felt bad about leaving you with two crappy, filler chapters in a row. So, here's some good stuff to make up for all this filler!**

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><p>"Maybe you should just talk to him, Sally," Lily mentioned as they worked in the library two days later. "He didn't do anything wrong. Just because his friends are a load of prats doesn't mean he is."<p>

"I'd rather distant myself from that lot if that's alright with you," explained Sally.

"That's not alright with me! You need to talk to him. He's blaming himself for what happened to you and that's not fair. He even took points away from the three of them _and _gave them detention. Remus has never done that to the three of them before," she pointed out, "So you know what? You need to go talk to him because he's earned it."

"He's earned it?" repeated Sally.

"He's earned it."

"I hardly see how him doing his duties is earning me embarrassing myself," Sally whispered as a Ravenclaw walked passed.

"Why do you think you're going to embarrass yourself?" Lily whispered back, raising an eyebrow at her.

"Because they read my journal," she explained, "And you heard Sirius. His girlfriend? Surely, they must have told him." Lily smiled and giggled a little.

"Or maybe he fancies you, like proper fancies, and they're just teasing him about it," Lily countered. "Really, Sally. You should go talk to him." She gave Sally a wink and went back to the book in front of her. Sally looked at the other girl for a while, thinking.

"Lily…is there something you want to tell me?" Sally asked. Lily looked up at her, beaming.

"I think you should talk to Remus, Sally."

When Sally got to Transfiguration the next day, Remus was sitting between Peter and another Gryffindor Sally had never noticed even existed. But there he was, and it was pretty annoying that he was. She had finally decided after hours of debating, that she'd talk to Remus and how was she supposed do to do that when she couldn't sit next to him? She could wait for him after class, but Sally could have easily talked herself out of it.

"Just sit behind him," one of the friends that she had walked to class with told her, giving her a nudge. This girl, Poppy Caxton, was in Sally's own house and year. They had beds next to each other their first years and had developed a fast friendship that had lasted through to their sixth year. She knew just as much as Lily (perhaps a little more) about what was the general standing of things.

"Good enough," sighed Sally. She followed Poppy through the row, stopping right behind Remus. She shrugged her bag off her shoulder and let it slip onto the floor with a loud _clunk_. She reached over desk to tap Remus on the shoulder. He glanced back at her and then turned around fully.

"Can we talk?" she asked. Sally was suddenly aware of the fact that Poppy was listening intently.

"I'm sorry," he immediately said, "I didn't think they'd do anything like that, especially not to you." Sally shrugged, giving him a small smile.

"It wasn't your fault," she told him, "And what do you mean especially not to me?" Remus shifted in his chair, chuckling a little. A bit of color crept onto his face, making the scars on his face blend in. Sally had to admit, she had always wondered how those came to be. It wasn't something she thought he'd want to tell people about, which was why she never asked.

"It's…uh…not important," he stammered, shaking his head. "But, uh." He paused, making a face.

"But what?" pressed Sally, pushing the brown waves sprouting from her head out of her face. His blue eyes locked onto Sally's green ones and there was a twinkle there that she hadn't seen before. He smiled.

"But I think you and I should go for a walk after class," he suggested. Sally opened her mouth to reply, but was cut off by Professor McGonagall.

"Mr. Lupin, Ms. Capper," she said briskly, "Is my trying to teach going to interrupt your conversation or can I begin?" Sally blushed, sitting in her seat.

"Sorry, Professor," Remus apologized, turning to face her. "Won't happen again." Sally reached into her bag and pulled out a quill, ink and a spare bit of parchment. She scribbled a single word onto the middle of the paper. Then, she pulled out her wand and tapped the parchment. The parchment folded itself into a neatly made bird that resembled a sparrow and it fluttered onto Remus' desk. Once unfolded, it displayed the word 'yes'.

The rest of the class was devoted to Sally and Poppy passing notes to one another. Lily was on the other side of the room, and while Sally was good with the bird note spell, it wasn't worth probably getting caught passing notes across the room. She just gave the redhead a thumbs up the first chance she got. Lily beamed, returning the gesture. Sally did the feeling she knew something more than what she was telling, but hopefully whatever it was that Remus wanted to talk about was what Lily knew.

When it ended, Sally and Poppy waited for Remus, who had hung back to talk to his friends. Sally was getting a little antsy while she did. It was starting to get to her the fact he wanted to talk to her about something that she hadn't paid the least bit of attention to McGonagall.

"I'm sure you'll have a story to tell me later!" giggled Poppy, nudging her friend. Sally giggled too, biting her lip when she saw Remus exit the classroom. Poppy gave her a look and headed off towards the Hufflepuff common room; that left Sally and Remus alone.

"How about we go take a walk around the lake," he suggested, putting his hand on her back to gently lead her in the direction of the Entrance Hall. The two of them walked in relative silence. His hand stayed on her back, not that Sally minded that or even noticed. As long as it didn't travel too far downward, it wasn't going to be a problem. Once they reached the outdoors, the crowd around them thinned out a bit and by the time they got to the trees surrounding the lake, they were alone.

"So," Sally said after what seemed like a century of silence, "You wanted to talk?" He leaned against a nearby tree trunk, looking at her. He seemed to be deep in thought and all Sally could do was stand there and wait for him to finish his thoughts.

"Sally, I—Can I ask you something?"

"Sure," she said, chewing on her lip. He looked at her for a moment before standing up from his leaning position. He looked at her, obviously debating on the question or if he'd ask it at all.

Suddenly, he beamed, taking a half step closer and closing the space between him and her. Remus took her face in his hands and just looked into her eyes for a long moment. He was a ways taller than her as her forehead came to his shoulders so he had to hunch over her just slightly but even that was cute to Sally. She leaned up to close the space between their lips and they shared a fairly innocent, entirely sweet kiss. When they parted, they were both smiling. He rested his forehead on hers and brushed his lips to hers again briefly.

"There's a Hogsmeade trip this weekend," Remus informed, "Would you maybe like to accompany me?" Sally's smile, if it could, got bigger.

"I'd love to."

After a few more kisses, the two headed back towards the castle. They headed into the Great Hall together, where they parted ways to sit at their respective house tables. Sally sat next to Poppy, who she spotted immediately thanks to the other's blonde curls, and began to tell her about what had just happened. She also made a mental note to catch Lily on the way out of the Great Hall as she saw her sit down to tell her thank you for convincing her to talk to Remus.


	6. Chapter 6

The day of the Hogsmeade trip, Sally was hyper-aware of her own appearance. Her bangs were in her eyes (how had she not noticed she need a haircut before this?) and once she had fixed the bang problem with a headband, she noticed that her eyebrows were insanely bushy. Poppy had helped her fix that, but then there was the fact she couldn't find a single thing to wear because everything made her look like she was shaped like a giant quaffle. Poppy picked out an outfit for her, told her she looked fine and refused to let her back into the common room once she was done getting ready.

Remus and Sally had agreed to meet in the Entrance Hall. As he was coming from upstairs and the opposite side of the castle, the two girls were left to wait for at least ten minutes after Poppy forced Sally out of the dormitory so she wouldn't fret over how she looked.

"You look perfect, Sally," Poppy kept reassuring, "Besides, he obviously thinks you look fit every day, doesn't he? What are you worried about?"

"That this won't end well?" admitted Sally nervously, chewing on a glossed lip. The blonde shook her head at her friend, chuckling.

"Sally, there's no way you can mess this up," explained Poppy. "Think about it. He still probably feels really bad about what Sirius, James and Peter did to you that he'd overlook every bad thing you do." Sally did think about it. Maybe she was right. Maybe he'd look over anything she did if she did it, which she probably would but only because she worked herself up this much.

"Maybe you're right," she sighed.

"Of course I'm right!" the blonde exclaimed, "Just relax. Have a good time and have some fun. It's not every day you get to go on a first date, is it?"

"No. I don't suppose so," Sally said quietly. She glanced up the staircase to see if Remus was coming. He wasn't, but another of Sally's favorite Gryffindors was. Lily was taking the stairs two at a time, and headed for Sally and Poppy when she reached the bottom.

"I was told to tell you that Remus will be down here soon. He's got to deal with something the fourth year boys did. Also, he apologizes for making you wait," declared Lily, beaming. "I'm really excited for you two, do you know that?" Sally smiled at her, nodding.

"I know, you've told me every time you've seen me since I told you he asked me out, Lily," informed Sally. "You can't be _that _excited."

"But I am!" Lily shrugged, "But have either of you seen Severus? He said he'd be waiting for me." Sally shook her head and Poppy gave her a one armed shrug. The three of them all faced in the direction of the dungeon doors and not one spotted Severus.

"No, then," sighed Lily. "You won't mind me waiting for him with you, would you?"

"Not at all!" Poppy told her, "Maybe you can help me keep Sally from making her head explode."

"That nervous?"

"Yeah," Sally sighed. "I don't know why. I wasn't until I woke up this morning."

"Well, you shouldn't be now," Lily pointed out. "It's just Remus. You've spent plenty of time with just him."

"Yeah, but that wasn't a date, was it?" countered Sally, "It was studying. And talking."

"Exactly. All a date really is is just talking," Poppy explained, "So, just talk like you two usually do, and you'll be golden." Sally just nodded, and leaned against the wall. Every so often, her eyes would dart to the top of the stairs, but it wasn't after Lily had left with Severus that Remus finally appeared.

"There's my cue to leave," Poppy said in Sally's ear when she spotted him. "Good luck, have fun and just relax!" She headed back to the Hufflepuff common room to more than likely to meet up with other girls in their year and then head to Hogsmeade. Sally stood up from her leaning position and smoothed out her clothes before he got to her, and took a deep breath right as he approached her.

"Hi, Sally. Sorry about making you wait. Some of the fourth year boys were filling the couch in the common room with dung bombs," Remus explained, tugging on his short brown hair. "You look lovely, by the way." Sally smiled, tugging on the bottom half of her outfit to make sure it was in place.

"Thank you," she said, "And don't worry about it. Lily was waiting for Severus, so I wasn't all alone down here."

"Well, that's good," he said, and then glanced to the door. "Should we head to Hogsmeade, then?" Sally nodded and the two headed for the oak front doors. They walked the path to Hogsmeade and just chatted. That time they had helped calm Sally down a lot. It seemed to be no different now than the three hours they spent in the library sans the work.

Once they reached the village, they milled around for a while. There was a lot of asking what the other wanted to do, which was always met with an answer of whatever the other wanted to do would be just fine by them. After a solid five minutes of going in a conversational circle, there was an eventual decision to go for tea. The two ended up in Madam Puddifoot's, which the both of them just so happened to avoid up to that point in time. It wasn't decorated like it was Valentine's Day, but it was still quite love oriented and for a moment, Sally wanted to suggest they go to the Three Broomsticks instead but then they were being sat and Remus was ordering and asking what she wanted.

"So…" Sally trailed off once the shop owner that was presumably Madam Puddifoot went away.

"So," said Remus shortly, smiling a little.

"Did Peter tell you," Sally started to ask, looking down at her hands that were resting on the table. She had to admit, she wanted to know if he had told Remus about what he had seen in her journal, but it was hard to bring up in case he had. That'd just make the whole thing quite awkward.

"About your journal?" guessed Remus and Sally nodded. "No, he didn't," he answered. "I was less than pleased with them at the time and now they just pretend it didn't happen," he explained. "They never apologized, did they?" Sally shook her head.

"I don't even care about that anymore," she told him. "I wasn't going to hold my breath for an apology in the first place."

"They should though. What they did was awful."

"As I said, I don't care anymore. If they apologized, it would be nice, but I'm not going to expect it. After all, I'm _just_ a Hufflepuff," sighed Sally, making a face.

"I really wish you wouldn't say it like that," he sighed, "Or at all for that matter. Being a Hufflepuff isn't a bad thing, you know."

"I know that," said Sally defensively, "It's everyone else in Hogwarts that seems to forget that. I mean, there's plenty of stuff I can do. I'm really good at finding stuff! No matter where it ends up, I can always find what I'm looking for." Remus gave her a look.

"Sally, I don't think that's a thing Hufflepuffs do," he informed.

"No, it is," she said, nodding. "Ask anyone." He looked at her and chuckled. 

"Well, you do have senses of humor, I'll give you that," he told her. "And I like to think if I wasn't a Gryffindor, I'd be…"

"A Ravenclaw?" she interjected, making a face. "Everyone knows you're brilliant, Remus. If you weren't a Gryffindor, you'd be a Ravenclaw, not a Hufflepuff. I appreciate it, but really, I'm perfectly fine with being a Hufflepuff. There's no need for you to try and make me feel better." He smiled sheepishly, shrugging with one arm as their order showed up. The rest of the time was filled with eating and witty little comments. Every so often the couple directly in front of them would become extremely engrossed in each others' mouths and Sally would giggle. Remus would cast an amused look at both her and then the couple and just shake his head. It was safe to say the couple assumed Sally was giggling at them, but the fact was that she was laughing because she was in a place that had a reputation for being a couple's haunt with a boy on a date and the fact those two were kissing meant Remus and her could kiss and it made her nervous.

When the two left Madam Puddifoot's about a half hour later, the crisp, fall air was full of the sounds of students enjoying their day in the village. Kids were in and out of the various shops, milling around outside of the Three Broomsticks and up towards the building that people were saying was haunted.

"They say that place is haunted," Remus mentioned as he spotted Sally looking over at it. He had slouched down to get close to her ear, which made her jump slightly. "Say there's screaming in there some times. Noises so bad even the ghosts from the castle won't go in there. Scary, huh?" Sally shrugged.

"I don't know about that," she said quietly. "I think it's more sad than scary." He gave her an amused look, raising an eyebrow and getting somewhat of a crooked smirk on his face that reminded her of James Potter.

"Sad?" he asked, "Why do you say that?"

"Whatever's screaming has to be in a lot of pain," explained Sally, "And I feel bad for whomever or whatever it is." His face suddenly hardened and he seemed somber.

"Yeah…" he trailed off, looking up at the house. "Guess you're right, aren't you? A lot of pain." He sighed, looking up at the house for a little while longer before looking to Sally and smiling. "How about instead of thinking about sad things, we go to Honeydukes?" he suggested. Sally smiled right back at him and nodded.

"Sounds like a brilliant plan," she told him, "You, Remus Lupin are an extremely smart Gryffindor." He chuckled a little and stepped aside to let Sally lead the way to Honeydukes.

Honeydukes was, as always on Hogsmeade trips, packed with students from the school. Its warm, sweet smelling air was what made Sally come back every Hogsmeade trip. She didn't need all the candy and she had cut back on her stash she kept in her trunk but Honeydukes was irresistible. Sally and Remus wandered the store, picking up things every other shelf they approached until they had a small pile of candies in each of their arms. Sally's consisted of Chocolate Wands, Licorice Wands, Sugar Quills, and Jelly Slugs whereas Remus had gone for Chocolate Frogs, Cauldron Cakes and Every Flavor Beans. When they got to the counter to pay, he put up all of his collection and looked over at Sally expectantly, who was standing behind him.

"What?" asked Sally confusedly.

"Sally, I'm planning on paying for all of that," he explained to her, motioning at what she had in her arms. "But you've got to put it on the counter." Sally shook her head.

"No, Remus, it's alright, really," she told him. "It's mine, I've got…"

"Sally," he said warningly. "I'm not taking no for an answer." Sally opened her mouth to protest, but the witch behind the counter reasoned with her.

"Dearie, I don't remember the last time I've seen a boy want to pay for a girl he was with and they're generally not too happy about it," she told her. Sighing and shaking her head, Sally put her stuff up on the counter. She looked over at Remus.

"Really, you don't have to," she said again.

"But I want to, Sally." He gave her a smile, and for some reason this one made her heart skip a beat. She had seen him smile before, but this one was something else entirely. "Don't worry about it, okay?" She didn't say another word, just looked down at her feet and bit her lip in an attempt to hold back a smile, which failed miserably. She took her bag from the witch behind the counter once her stuff was in it and followed Remus out of the store.

The two wandered to various places after that, sometimes going into shops to look at things and other times just ambling down the road. They stopped to talk to Sally's fellow Hufflepuffs as they caught each other on their way out of the Three Broomsticks. Poppy seemed very adamant to leave the two of them alone with each other, winking as she left.

Before too long, it was time to head back to the school. On their way back, their hands just so happened to brush each other a number of times. Eventually, the two began to hold hands, giving the other a nervous smile as they intertwined fingers. It had really been a lovely afternoon and Sally was glad she had talked to Remus instead of avoiding him completely. When they got to the oak front doors, however, things stopped being so lovely.

James Potter, Peter Pettigrew and Sirius Black were all in the Entrance Hall when the two walked in, on their way out of the Great Hall. Sally had seen them head into Zonko's on their way for tea, but after that, she didn't see them again. She had been shocked they weren't all over Hogsmeade like they usually were, but apparently they had come back early.

"There he is!"

Sally took a half-step back. She had expected that he'd let go of her hand and she could (at the very least) stand completely behind him as she was sure his friends weren't all that fond of her. Not that she was particularly fond of them (she could see why Lily wouldn't go out with the Potter boy now) but it was the principle of the fact they were approaching her (well, Remus and her by association) was what made her feel like she had to hide. However, Remus kept a firm hold on her hand.

"How was Hogsmeade?" Remus asked nonchalantly, giving his friends an easy smile.

"It was fine, aside from the fact our friend seems to have forgotten we had plans, the four of us," said James. Remus sighed, rubbing Sally's hand with his thumb.

"I told you guys I made plans with Sally," he answered calmly. "I would've thought you guys would have understood." James shook his head slowly.

"We would have if it was you and Lily, Prongs," Remus said, his voice still as calm and controlled as before. James gave him a look, and then looked to Sally and back to his friend. He then glanced back to Sirius and Peter, both of whom had the same look on their faces. Obviously, Remus had hit some kind of nerve with that statement. Or made them have some kind of realization. One of the two.

"Oh…well, then," sighed James after a while of tense silence. "We're still going through with our plan for tonight?" Remus nodded.

"We'll see you back in the common room, then."

"I'll be heading up in a couple minutes. I'm just going to walk Sally back to her common room," he told them. They waited until the other three headed up the stairs before Sally led the way to the Hufflepuff common room.

"He really fancies Lily, doesn't he?" asked Sally, making a face. He nodded slowly.

"That's not going to end well for him," she said.

"What makes you say that?" He looked amused now.

"Because she despises him," she explained, "Seriously, you should listen to her go on about him." He laughed.

"She talks about him, though? Well, that's a start." Sally laughed, rolling her eyes.

"It won't ever happen, I promise you," she told him. "If it does, I'll eat my hat."

"I'd pay to see that!" The two laughed, and Sally stopped in front of the entrance of the Hufflepuff common room. She looked up at him, smiling. Instead of proper end of date conversation, Remus just glanced around to see the corridor was deserted before bending down to give her a kiss. Sally gladly accepted that in place of the ever so awkward "I had a nice time" speech.

The two stood there kissing until a pair of third years came down the corridor, weighed down with items from the village. They broke apart reluctantly, smiling. The third years seemed unsure of what to do, as if they didn't want to show a Gryffindor how to enter. Remus took the hint and gave Sally a kiss on the head.

"I'll see you tomorrow," he promised. He finally let go of her hand, and began to walk away.

"What've you got planned for tonight?" Sally called after him, interested to know if he'd tell her. He just shook his head, turning to face her but still walking in the opposite direction.

"I can't tell you that, Sally. Top secret business."


	7. Chapter 7

A week or so after the trip to Hogsmeade, Sally was met with a rather unexpected situation. She was sitting in Charms when James Potter sat down next to her. At first, she went on with finishing off the last of her essay she had forgotten to do for whatever reason. James cleared his throat but Sally didn't look up so he cleared his throat again. And again and once more before she looked up at him.

"Can I help you?" asked Sally in an exasperated voice. "I'm really not in the mood for harassment today, Potter." James shifted in his seat, clearly uncomfortable.

"That's…what I wanted to talk to you about," he explained. He sighed, ran his hand through his already messy hair and looked Sally right in the eyes. "I'm…I'm sorry."

"Sorry about what?"

"About everything," he said. "I guess we just always expect Remus to be around and the fact he's got you…I don't know. We were trying to scare you off, I suppose. But that didn't work and now we'll have to get over that." Sally made a face and nodded slowly.

"Well, I appreciate the apology," she said, "And I'm not trying to intrude on what you've got going on with that group of friends of yours. To be perfectly honest, he won't tell me much of what you guys do. Like what was such a big deal about that Friday night a couple weeks ago."

"It's…" he trailed off, "A bit of a tradition in our group, I guess you could say. I'd tell you, but it's not my place. We have to vote to tell people and that never really works well." He chuckled and so did Sally.

"So, are we okay now?" he asked her. Sally thought for a moment before nodding.

"Yeah, we're fine, I suppose. As long as all that nonsense stops now," she replied. He smiled.

"I promise, no more Hufflepuff jokes and no more…insensitive pranks," he said in a strained voice. "We'll all just start new, okay?" Sally nodded and he beamed. Just then, Remus entered the Charms class with Sirius and Peter came in after them. When he saw James and Sally, he gave the two a confused look and they both just smiled up at him.

"We've made a truce!" announced James. "And I mean all of us." Sirius shrugged and for a moment, Peter actually looked disappointed but then the look was gone.

"Well, that's good," sighed Remus, taking the seat on the other side of Sally and giving her a kiss on the cheek. "My four favorite people at school are finally going to get along." James nudged Peter and gave him a look and then they both shrugged. If it made Remus happy, they'd try.

"And he apologized?" asked Lily incredulously. Her, Sally and Poppy were seated under a tree by the lake, enjoying various snack foods that Poppy had nicked from the kitchens. They generally sat together once in a while and talked, just the three of them. It was nice to have girl time away from all the guys.

"And he apologized," affirmed Sally. "It was shocking! I think Remus had something to do with it."

"How is that a bad thing, though?" the redhead mused. "It means they like him enough to, at the very least, put up with you. As long as you two are dating, you shouldn't have to worry about James Potter, Sirius Black or Peter Pettigrew." Sally smiled, taking a bite out of the biscuit she had picked up a few minutes ago and hadn't bothered to eat.

"And," she added after she swallowed, "I get a completely wonderful boyfriend out of the deal as well."

"You're so lucky, Sally," piped up Poppy. "I mean, honestly. How'd you manage to get Remus Lupin away from the other three? They've always seemed so inseparable, and apart from James more or less harassing poor Lily, I don't think I've seen any of them go after any girls." Lily chuckled.

"That's because you aren't in the Gryffindor common room, Poppy," she sighed. "Trust me, Sirius flirted with just about every girl in the common room at any given time. I saw him try and impress a Ravenclaw girl once…that didn't go very well, so now he mostly just sticks to one house." Poppy and Sally giggled, as they could only imagine how it went for him and it was pretty entertaining.

"Do you ever think you'll give James a chance, Lily?" questioned Poppy, giving her a look while she bit off a big piece of a licorice wand. Lily made a face and shook her head fervently.

"He's arrogant," she explained, "And he's a bully. He's less than amusing and he doesn't seem to get it. If we were the last two people on Earth, I'd make use of the killing curse."

"That's a little harsh," Sally pointed out.

"I just feel very strongly about my distain for James Potter," Lily explained. "I'd never, in a thousand years, date him."

"Never say never," sang Poppy, giggling again.

"I'd have to consume many, many love potions for that to ever be possible!" Poppy and Sally looked at each other and rolled their eyes.

"You say that now, Lily," sighed Sally. "But give it time. I think he's starting to wear you down. Plus, you two would kind of be a cute couple." Lily looked at Sally as if she had two heads.

"Sally, dear, I think being in a relationship has made you a bit daft," she told her. "The cuteness you share with Remus is leaking to other things in your brain and it's making you think James and I would look good together. Might I suggest going to Madam Pomfrey?"

"No!" exclaimed Poppy, "I can see it too, Lily! And I don't have a boyfriend, so don't even try!"

The three girls continued to bicker over Lily and James for at least half an hour. It wasn't until the sun went almost all the way down that the girls decided they should go back inside. They had skipped dinner and had decided to replace it with the junk food that had been sprawled out on front of them. As the three of them approached the oak front doors, it opened and out walked Remus, James, Sirius and Peter and they seemed shocked at the sight of the girls.

"Sally!" Remus said in somewhat of a surprised tone, "What're doing out here?"

"We were talking?" said Sally in a confused voice, "What are _you _doing out here?" Remus exchanged glances with his friends before looking back at Sally and gulping.

"It's…nothing. You guys should probably get going, though. It's getting dark out and the moon will be up soon," he said in an almost hurried voice.

"Yeah, you never know the kind of things that wander about when the moon is up," Peter sniggered. Sally looked at him and then back at Remus, who looked uncomfortable.

"What's going on, Remus?" she asked. He shook his head.

"Sally, don't worry about it," he said quickly and glanced up at the sky. "But really, you should head inside. I don't know what I'd do if something wandered out of the forest and got to you." Sally rolled her eyes, laughing good-naturedly.

"I can take care of myself, you know," she pointed out.

"Still. You three should really go back inside," Sirius snapped. "And we've got somewhere to be, so if you'll excuse us." He led the way passed them and Remus gave Sally an apologetic look, kissing her on the head before he went.

"But wait!" called Sally to their retreating figures. Only Remus, who was closest, turned around but still walked.

"Can I come?" Remus shook his head vigorously.

"No, Sally. Really, it's just no place for you out here tonight," he explained, "Just trust me, please? Just stay inside. All three of you." He glanced up at the sky again, got an anxious look on his face and jogged after his friends. Sally frowned at his back, looking at the other two.

"Wonder what that's about," she said.

"He doesn't want you hanging out with his friends," stated Poppy, shrugging.

"Well, that's not very like Remus to exclude anyone," said Lily, "Especially not his girlfriend. I'd expect from the others, but not him." She shrugged, "But if it's such a big deal we be inside, maybe we should just go inside." She led the way into the Entrance Hall, where the girls said their goodbyes and Sally and Poppy headed for the Hufflepuff common room.

"Something about that is rubbing me the wrong way," admitted Sally to Poppy once Lily was out of sight. "Lily's right. That's not like Remus."

"He just wants guy time, probably, Sally!" assured Poppy, "Like how we like our girl time. I'm sure there's nothing going on."

"Still, why are they going out at night, when we have to be in our common rooms in less than an hour?" she asked. "And why is it such a big deal we be inside?"

"Maybe they're planning a prank," the blonde offered, shrugging. "And they don't want to ruin the surprise."

"Maybe," sighed Sally as they reached the portrait hole, making a mental note to ask Remus about it the next time they were together.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: I feel like I should disclaim the next two chapters with a bit of a warning. PLEASE keep in mind that this is _young love_ (aka the kind of stuff you all scoff at on facebook) and while it's not irrational to that extent, it is a little silly. And as always, reviews are appreciated! **

* * *

><p>Sally didn't see Remus when she went to breakfast the next day. She had slept in later than usual as Poppy and she had sat up for a while. They were speculating what the boys were doing out at night and why they were so set on keeping the girls inside. Nothing seemed to have happened the next day when Sally went to breakfast, which meant whatever it was, it wasn't a prank.<p>

Remus wasn't at the Gryffindor table when she headed in. That worried Sally. Remus was always at breakfast by now. He usually came in after Sally did as he came down from the tower on the other side of the castle, but Sally came in a good twenty minutes later and he was never generally more than a couple minutes behind her. In his usual place were just Sirius and Peter. Sally slowed her walk to her own house table to debate if she wanted to ask where her boyfriend was, but then again, it was Sirius and Peter. Two of her least favorite people. If James had been there, she would have asked him as he'd started being nicer to her but these two were still quite standoffish. In the end, her curiosity got the better of her.

"Sirius?" asked Sally as she approached the two. Sirius looked up, raising an eyebrow at who had addressed him. Clearly, he didn't expect for him to talk to her as much as she didn't expect to talk to him.

"Have you seen Remus?" He gave her a strange sort of face and looked over at Peter. The two had some sort of silent exchange before Sirius looked back at her.

"He was tired, decided to sleep in," he said gruffly. "Be down sooner or later." Sally nodded and promptly walked away. She had gotten the information she needed, there was no need to prolong anyone's suffering.

She ate breakfast only half aware of what she was putting into her mouth. She had her eyes on the entrance to the Great Hall, waiting for Remus. She had decided in the time she spent laying in her bed, awake, that she'd talk to him about what would happen yesterday. The sooner it happened, the better, too. Poppy had spent too much time talking her down from assuming something bad was happening.

Poppy was a wonderful friend to Sally. She always talked her down from her hysterical thoughts (like something seriously bad had been going on last night, though now she was beginning to have them again) and made Sally feel like her hysteria was perfectly normal. She was always there when Sally needed someone. Poppy was lovely to spend time around and helpful and Sally wished she was half as good a friend to her as she was to Sally.

"You okay, Sally?" asked Poppy when she noticed Sally trying to consume a napkin. Sally looked at the napkin in some confusion and dropped it back down on the table.

"Remus isn't here," explained Sally, "He's usually here by now." Poppy sighed, patting Sally's arm.

"He's alright, I'm sure of it," she reassured. "He's probably just tired, is all. He was probably up late like we were, so he probably slept in!" Sally smiled slightly, looking over at the blonde.

"I know, I know, but you know me," she sighed. "I assume the worst of some things. Especially after what happened last night."

"Do you know what happened?" the blonde asked, "You did go over to Sirius on your way here." Sally shook her head.

"No, I just asked where he was," Sally told her.

"Well, don't worry about him, Sally. Remus isn't a child, I'm sure he can take care of himself."

Sally ate the rest of her breakfast (and not anything else on the table) and made small talk with the people around her at the Hufflepuff table. Every so often, she'd glance up at the Gryffindor table or the entrance, but there was no Remus. Once she was done, she said goodbye to Poppy (who was busying trying to flirt with Dirk Summerby) and decided to just head back to the common room.

On her way out of the Great Hall, she finally found Remus. In fact, she walked right into him. Her face bumped his chest and without seeing his face, she knew it was him. He had his own, distinct scent and as cheesy as it was, Sally could tell it was him just by the way he smelled. Sally took a step back, smiling at him but her face fell when she saw him.

Remus looked to be in an extreme amount of pain. Even her bumping into him seemed to make him hurt. His face was screwed up in pain and he was taking shallow breaths. He had a few cuts on his face and for some reason his scars seemed brighter than she had ever seen them. His hair was disheveled, and he just generally seemed undone.

"Remus, are you alright?" asked Sally in an almost overly concerned voice, chewing on her lip. Remus sighed heavily, rubbing his face and wincing again before looking down at Sally. A weary smile appeared on his face. He looked exhausted and older than he ever had before.

"I'm fine, Sally," he told her, "Don't worry about it." He looked over at the Gryffindor table and then back at her. "How about I grab some toast and then you and I go for a walk?" he suggested. She nodded, giving him a bright smile and he smiled a little more, something that made him seem more tired. He side-stepped around her to the table, grabbing a couple pieces of toast and giving his friends a nod before he was back to her.

"Where are we going?" asked Sally as he took her by the hand and led her out of the Great Hall. He was moving slowly, as if it hurt to walk too.

"Just…for a walk," he said nonchalantly, leading her up the marble staircase. He chewed on his toast, leading her down various corridors and looking over at Sally every so often. It wasn't until they reached a deserted corridor on the fourth floor that he seemed to even know where he was going. He led her into an empty classroom and closed the door behind him. Sally sat herself atop a desk and looked at him expectantly. He took his time finishing off his breakfast before he turned to face her.

"So, I feel like I need to apologize," explained Remus, sitting himself on the desk nearest hers so that their legs brushed up against each other. "For last night. I was being rather…" he trailed off, obviously looking for the right word.

"Standoffish?" supplied Sally, raising her eyebrows at him.

"Standoffish," repeated Remus, nodding a couple of times. "I'm sorry, Sally, I really am. It's just there was something going on that you really, really shouldn't be around." Sally made a face, running her hand through her hair.

"I'm not a child, Remus," she pointed out, "I'm more than capable of handling whatever it is you do with those friends of yours, you know." He shook his head.

"You really can't, Sally. It's…something I'm not so sure you can deal with, alright? I just don't want to have to worry about you dealing with that, either. I feel bad enough that my friends do," he said, giving her a look that was something between amusement and worry.

"And what is it that you think I can't deal with, Remus? If you can trust your friends with this secret of yours, it makes sense you can trust your girlfriend," snapped Sally, crossing her arms. "What do you seem to think you need to protect me from?" His smile faded and he shook his head.

"Sally, it's a secret," he said with a certain amount of urgency in his voice. "It's not something I think Sirius, Peter or James could handle, to be perfectly honest with you. It's a dangerous kind of thing, okay? I wouldn't have told them if I didn't think they deserved to know the truth."

"And I don't deserve to know the truth?" pressed Sally. He shook his head.

"It's not a big deal, okay? It's not something I think you'll ever have to concern yourself over because the four of us have it handled," he sighed, "I just don't want to have to worry about my girlfriend getting hurt. Why does that make me the bad guy?" Sally thought about it. To be honest, she wasn't sure she was entirely upset that he wouldn't let her come along yesterday, but now it was the fact he wouldn't tell her.

"Because you won't tell me what's going on, Remus," she sighed. "I don't particularly care that you don't let me in on anything you and your friends do. Not like you would let me in on whatever it is, anyway. To be honest, I don't want to know what you do ninety-nine percent of the time. The less I know the better off I am. But the fact you won't tell me this kind of upsets me. The fact you obviously don't trust me with whatever this is upsets me because it seems to be a big deal to you and I'm your girlfriend. What's a big deal to you is to me as well."

"Sally, it's not I don't trust you," he groaned. "It's the situation itself, I don't trust. It's unpredictable." He sighed, rubbing his jaw. "I just don't want you getting hurt. We have it handled, I promise you. Not the kind of big deal I'm ever going to want to dump on you."

"What's going to hurt me, Remus?" she asked, sliding off the desk.

"I can't tell you," he repeated, giving her a serious look. "Can we please just forget about all of this?" he asked, wincing as he shifted. Sally looked at him, frowning. The more he said he couldn't tell her, the angrier it made her. Surely, he could trust her. She was his girlfriend.

"Remus, you're hurt and I don't know why," stated Sally, "And you won't let me in on your secrets and you don't trust me to defend myself against whatever this happens to be and I don't like it. Not at all. I'm allowed to want to know what you do and I put enough faith in this relationship that I think I can be trusted with a secret or two, but you obviously don't think so because you've done this to me pretty much every time you do something with your friends!" She sighed heavily, taking a step away from him. "If you don't trust me with your secrets, I don't see how this is going to work." She paused, averting her eyes from the rapidly changing face of the male in front of her. It was hardly something she wanted to do, but the fact that he wouldn't trust her with whatever it was that was going on hurt. "Maybe we should just stop fooling around before things get any worse." With that, she crossed the room to the door and wrenched it open.

"Sally, wait!"

"No, I'm quite alright," replied Sally, not even turning back to look at him before she more or less ran for the Hufflepuff common room.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: The last author's note from chapter 8 is still in effect here.**

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><p>Sally refused to leave her bed for three days after that. It hadn't been too much of a big deal when it was the weekend but come Monday when Sally didn't go to her classes, Poppy had been sent with a message saying unless she was in the Hospital Wing, she had no excuse to miss classes from Professor McGonagall. Sally considered going to the Hospital Wing but it seemed likely Remus would be there and there was nothing really wrong with them. She genuinely felt bad because of what had happened, obviously, and the only reason she stayed in bed was so that she didn't have to see Remus. She had no doubt in her mind that would make her feel worse than she already did and she couldn't afford that.<p>

Poppy had been the first person to hear about what had happened, of course, but it had taken a couple hours to get it out of Sally. She had sat in the common room, huffing and stammering on the verge of tears. It was like something inside of Sally snapped and it wasn't connected anymore, which resulted in a dysfunctional Sally. It took Poppy two hours to calm Sally down to the point where she could explain what had happened.

She had burst into tears halfway through explaining what had happened, and made quite a few people in the common room look around at her. Poppy tried to quiet her but it was absolutely no use. Sally was crying and she was hardly a silent crier. She had managed to get out the part where they broke up and a few people around them let out "awws" and one girl had held out a chocolate frog to her. Sally had devoured it, still crying.

After that, she had gone to bed at Poppy's insisting and refused to get out again. Within a couple of hours, everyone in the school knew Remus Lupin and Sally Capper had broken up. Granted, the story of how it happened had was jumbled around so it seemed like something horrid had happened, there had been a duel and Professor Dumbledore himself had to break it up. Not that Sally even knew until Poppy had told her.

"You can't sit in here forever, Sally," sighed Poppy, sitting down on her bed. "You need to go to classes and it isn't healthy for you." Sally just sighed heavily and pulled her blankets over her head.

"What'd I do, Poppy?"

"You broke up with Remus because he wouldn't trust you with secrets but he'd trust James and that lot," stated Poppy. "In all honesty, I don't blame you, at all for that." She pulled Sally's covers off of her face, looking at her.

"Just…come to dinner, please?" begged the blonde. "Just come out for a little while and I'll cover for you with the professors tomorrow." Sally stared at her for a long moment before nodding.

"Fine," said Sally quietly. "I'm leaving if I see Remus, though," she added. Poppy nodded, sliding off her bed.

"Fair enough," the other said. "Now get dressed." Sally nodded and clambered out of bed. Poppy left her alone in the dormitory to get changed, which only took her a couple of minutes. Not bothering to try and fix up her hair, she pulled it into a messy bun and headed for the common room, where Poppy was waiting. The two headed for the Great Hall, where quite a few people stopped to look at her. Obviously, they had heard stories. Sally just kept her eyes on the Hufflepuff table and headed right for it. At least there they had the sense not to look at Sally or talk about what had happened until she was gone.

"Hey Sally," a third year she only knew from seeing him in the common room said, leaning over to her, "Are you alright?" Sally nodded slowly, keeping her eyes on the various kinds of food she was putting on her plate. The last thing she wanted to do was make direct eye contact with anyone. Sally wasn't exactly in the mood to be around people at the moment. Yet Poppy seemed to think it was a good idea for Sally to go to dinner, so she did.

Sally sat the meal in absolute silence. Poppy didn't exactly want this for her friend, but the fact she had agreed to do it at all made her happy. Sally hadn't really eaten in the last couple of days, so she ate her way through triple helpings of everything on the table she ate. It seemed to be going pretty well. Towards the end of the meal, Sally had even begun to talk to the people around her. It was all going to be okay, for at least now.

When Sally left the Great Hall, she was in a better mood than she had been since the fight. The people looking at her didn't even bother her on her way out. The only thing that could have brought her down would be to see Remus; which she did. On her way out the actual door, he was right there and there wasn't any avoiding him. So much for feeling better.

"Sally!" he exclaimed, "I'm glad I caught you. I think we need to talk."

"I don't think so," muttered Sally, trying to side-step him but he stepped in her way.

"Sally, we do," he pressed. "Just hear me out. I didn't want to tell you what we were doing or for you to go with us because we went into the Forest," he explained, "We went looking for the Centaurs and you know how they are." He paused, tipping her head up by the chin so she'd look at him, "I didn't know you wanted to be involved in what James, Sirius, Peter and I do, Sally. I swear I didn't know."

"I don't," snapped Sally, "I just want you do to trust me." Remus smirked, taking hold of both of her hands.

"Sally, I do trust you," he told her. "I'm sorry I ever made you feel like I didn't," he added. He sighed, giving her a coy smile. "Can we please just stop being silly and get back together?" Sally looked up at him, breaking into a smile herself.

"Yeah, I think we can," she said, squeezing his hands. His smile got bigger and before she knew what was happening, they were kissing. In the Great Hall, where people were paying attention to them. They were obviously expecting another duel like the one that had supposedly happened, but instead they got that kiss.

And just like that, it was common knowledge they were back together.


	10. Chapter 10

Friday after lessons, Remus, Sally, Poppy, James, Peter, and Sirius all decided it'd be a good idea to head down to the Quidditch pitch. After Sally and Remus got back together, his friends had accepted the fact they were dating. It'd be untrue to say they liked her, but they went along with the situation and they were civil. That was all Sally had hoped for.

Everyone except the happy couple had decided to play a friendly game of Quidditch and was flying around the pitch. The other two sat in the stands, half paying attention to the game. The other half of their attention was focused on the other. Remus had pulled Sally onto his lap, which she really had no problems with. He kept his arms around her middle to keep her from sliding off onto the ground.

"You know," sighed Sally, "Poppy could beat James and Sirius if she didn't have Peter as a teammate." She shifted around so she could turn her head to see his face. He gave her an amused smile, glancing up to the game. James had just taken the Quaffle from Poppy and was zooming towards the furthest goal posts. For a seeker, he was a decent chaser.

"It's nice that you have such faith in your friends, but I think you're letting your judgment be clouded," he pointed out, pressing his lips to her forehead. Sally giggled, bending her neck backwards and putting one hand behind Remus' head to give him a peck on the lips.

"Oh shush," she said, "You know James isn't as amazing as he makes himself out to be." He cocked an eyebrow at her.

"There _has _to be _something _he's not amazing at!" Remus seemed to think about it for a while, pulling his girlfriend closer to him. She snuggled into him, perfectly content with how things were at that moment in time. They were together, their friends were getting along and there wasn't anything else Sally could really ask for.

"I know!" informed Remus after a while. "He's not good at getting Lily Evans to go out with him." Sally looked at him to see he had an amused expression and she took that to mean she was allowed to laugh, which she did. Seeing James' desperation from outside of just being Lily's friends, Sally did sort of feel bad for him. He did really seem to try and it was an honest effort. She felt worse laughing at him but she couldn't help it. It was funny.

"Fair enough," she said, nodding. "I don't think that'll be something he'll ever be good at. I almost wish he'd just give up. It's starting to hurt _me _watching it." Remus chuckled.

"I still think it'll happen, Sally." She just giggled, kissing him again.

"You're so cute, you know that?" she asked, giving him another kiss. He chuckled against her lips, content with leaving the conversation there. They continued to kiss for a long time, having been forgotten because of the game at hand. It wasn't until Sirius took a Quaffle to the face from his own teammate did anyone turn their attention to them.

"Oi! You two! Stop snogging!" called Peter, kicking the Quaffle towards them. It sailed into the stands, and landed a few inches from Sally's feet. She pulled away from Remus and let out a high pitched squeal as she tried to distance herself from the ball. That was more or less the reason why Sally never played Quidditch herself; she was afraid of the balls.

"Watch it!" Remus shouted back, holding Sally a little tighter to him as if she was his prized possession he was afraid Peter would break. "Are you alright?" Sally nodded, laughing a little.

"I'm fine, Remus. The ball didn't touch me," Sally pointed out.

"You screamed," he said sheepishly.

"I'm afraid of getting hit. That's why I don't play. Screaming is my general response to a ball coming my way," she explained, "Thank you for the concern, though." She gave him another kiss that was cut short by the four joining them in the stands.

"Accept it, we won!" exclaimed Sirius. Poppy rolled her eyes.

"You cheated," she replied.

"We did not!" protested James. Sally and Remus exchanged glances and shook their heads.

"How about we just let it go?" suggested Remus. "And we get heading back up to the castle? It'll be time for dinner soon."

"But!" Sirius started.

"No buts!" exclaimed Sally. "Up to the castle." For some reason, they seemed to drop the matter there and started towards the castle. Sally and Remus laughed, and took the other's hand and followed after them.


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: ATTENTION. Boring, fluff chapter ahead! Something big is happening in the next chapter though, and this is needed!**

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><p>"Just trust me!"<p>

"I do trust you, I'd just like to see where I'm going!" exclaimed Sally, who was currently blindfolded and being led up a flight of stairs by her boyfriend.

"You'll see in a minute," he told her, leading her up the last of the stairs and catching her as she tripped over the top step. The two laughed and he took her by the hand and led her through a doorway.

"Are we there yet?" asked Sally, reaching for the blindfold with her free hand. Remus laughed.

"You really have no patience, do you?" he asked and she shook her head. He let go of her hand and reached above her to pull off the blindfold. She blinked a couple times to adjust to the light before she realized where they were.

"We're on the astronomy tower," stated Sally. Remus nodded.

"It's not all that special, I know, but the sun's setting and I…I don't know, I thought it'd be nice to have five minutes alone," he explained, smiling sheepishly. Sally smiled back at him, wrapping her arms around his middle and resting her head against him. He wrapped his arms around her, leaning against the nearest wall.

"It's a brilliant idea," she told him. "I feel like we're never alone these days."

"Me too."

And it was true. They hadn't been alone for more than a minute in a long time. Since his friends had more or less accepted the fact they were dating, they seemed to be alright with her and while they still teased her (mostly just Sirius teased her) they were alright with having her around. Therefore, they were never alone.

"Remus, can I ask you something?" Sally asked, biting her bottom lip as she looked up at his face. He nodded, giving her a confused look.

"And you promise you'll tell me the truth?" she pressed.

"Yes, Sally, I promise," he chuckled. "Now out with it." He gave her a smile, and a gentle squeeze.

"How did you get those scars on your face?" she asked in a quiet voice. His smile left his face immediately.

"It's not important," he grumbled.

"You promised you'd tell the truth," Sally pointed out.

"I'm _telling _you the truth. It's not important, Sally," he said in a voice she had never heard him use before and she couldn't quite tell what emotion it was.

"If it's not important, why won't you just tell me?"

"Because it's not important to you, Sally," snapped Remus, letting his arms fall to his sides and Sally let go of him too, took a step back and crossed her arms.

"_They_ know, don't they?" she guessed. He gave her a look and opened his mouth to retort but she cut him off, "You promised to tell the truth, Remus." He sighed heavily and gave a short jerk of his head that was obviously supposed to be a nod.

"Then, why won't you tell me?"

"Because it's not important to us, Sally. It's old news, nothing that I ever want to talk about again. Alright?" he sighed. "Can we please just enjoy the sunset?" Sally glared at him.

"Do you not trust me or something?" she asked.

"I do trust you, Sally. It's just nothing that I need to concern you with. As I said, it's old news," he said, "And the only reason I told James was because he had me hanging by my ankles and wouldn't let me down until I told him. And then he told the others." He pulled her into another hug, resting his head on top of hers. "I promise I'll tell you someday, Sally. Just not today. Think you can live with that?"

"Fine," sighed Sally, hugging him back.

"Good," he said, "Now let's watch the sunset before it's gone completely."


	12. Chapter 12

Sally had been planning tonight for almost an entire week. She had to admit, the fact Remus was keeping secrets from her that he wasn't keeping from them drove her crazy. She couldn't understand why he felt like he had to keep whatever it was from her. She'd tell him anything he'd ever want to know about her, and he knew that, and Sally couldn't help but feel like he wasn't as serious about her as she was him.

When Remus asked her, in an awfully serious manner, to stay inside tonight like he did once a month, Sally decided it was time she took the matter into her own hands. If he didn't want to tell her, she'd find out for herself. She hung around the Entrance Hall, near the Great Hall in the hopes they weren't looking for anyone in the shadows. She felt a little creepy for spying on them, but she wanted to know. As they all passed through the oak front doors, she headed for the doors.

"Where do you think you're going?" a voice hissed. Sally stopped dead in her tracks, turning to see who it was. Severus Snape was standing at the entrance to the dungeons with an amused smirk on his face.

"It's no business of yours, Severus," snapped Sally. "If you'll excuse me, I've got somewhere to go." She was going to lose them if she didn't hurry up.

"You really don't want to go following that boyfriend of yours, Capper," he told her in the same amused, oily voice as before, "That won't end well for you." He took a couple steps towards her and Sally rolled her eyes, pulling the oak front door open. Severus advanced on her quickly, pushing the door shut.

"Can I help you?" asked Sally in an annoyed voice, looking up at Lily's friend and as always, wondering why she was friends with him at all. He was hardly what Sally considered good company.

"Doesn't it ever strike you as odd that Remus and his little friends sneak off into the night once a month?" he asked her.

"Of course I do, why do you think I'm trying to follow them?" she asked, "And why do I have to be telling you any of this?" She pulled the door open again, glaring at him.

"You really don't want to go out there," he told her.

"Watch me," replied Sally, stepping over the threshold. Severus grabbed her by the arm and pulled her back.

"Your little boyfriend is a werewolf, you know," he snarled, "And unless you'd like to meet a sticky end, I suggest you stay indoors." Sally looked at him, opening and closing her mouth. She couldn't believe anyone could say such a thing. Surely, it had to be a lie! Or maybe she hadn't heard him right.

"Wh-what?"

"Werewolf. Clearly even someone as witless as you know what a werewolf is," he sighed, "Don't you ever notice they sneak out every full moon? Those scars came from somewhere, you know."

"You're lying," Sally said in a voice much higher pitched than her usual one. She didn't want to believe such a thing, especially from the likes of Severus Snape, but it made sense. The more she thought about it, the more she realized he wasn't wrong. Remus getting defensive over what they did, his scars, him telling her to stay inside. All once a month, and she had no doubts that if she charted it, it'd fall on the full moon every time. It added up.

"How do you know this?" she asked him, trying to remain calm. He shrugged, pulling her back inside and closing the door.

"That's no business of yours," he told her. "Now go back to your little underground domicile and call it a night."

"Why didn't you just let me find out for myself?" she asked suspiciously. He looked around and sighed.

"Because you're Lily's friend. But if you tell anyone about me…" he made a hand motion that circled her and then the door, "You will pay for it. This never happened." Sally nodded, and without another word, headed for her common room. She managed to stay calm until she clambered into her bed.

"This can't be true, it just can't be," she squeaked into her pillow and repeating it over and over again. She shook her head, taking somewhat shallow breaths. She was completely unsure how to react, and there were so many emotions that she just wasn't sure which ones to let out. Did she want to scream or did she want to cry?

Sally laid wake all night, letting each emotion out in turn. For a while, she shook and repeated, "It's not true" over and over again to herself, and then she cried for a little as she realized it was really true. Then, she let out a high pitched scream into her pillow as to try and not wake anyone up. She couldn't believe she hadn't seen it before. Remus was…a monster.


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: I swear I haven't forgotten about this fic! It's a combination of not knowing where to go and school starting. But I'm working on it now, I promise. :D**

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><p>The next day in Charms, Sally decided to ask Remus about it. The two sat nowhere near each other in the class, thanks to how the seating was arranged. The two relied on paper birds to communicate. She was terrified to ask him to his face, so the notes seemed like a much better idea.<p>

When she was sure she could send a paper sparrow across the room without being caught, she pulled out a piece of parchment. She inked her quill and quickly scribbled:

'_So, you're a werewolf, then?_'

Sally tapped her parchment with her wand. It folded itself into a neatly made sparrow and fluttered towards Remus. It landed in front of him and he glanced around before unfolding it. Sally watched him, biting her bottom lip, hard. He went very pale and put the parchment back down on the desk. He looked over at James, who gave him a concerned look. Remus pushed the note towards his friend, who scanned it, gave him a confused look and then gave Sally the same look. She gulped, looking from James to Remus, who was looking anywhere but at her.

Sally didn't get a response during the duration of the class. Usually, their practice time was when most of the messages got sent, but there was nothing back from Remus. In fact, it didn't seem like he was even trying to master the spell at all. The whole situation was making Sally nervous and she couldn't wait for the lesson to be over so she could talk to him.

When the lessons were finally over, Remus was the first out of the room. Sally scrambled to get her things into her bag and then ran out to catch up with him. At first, she didn't see him. Then, someone grabbed her arm and she saw it was him. He pulled her along a corridor, pushed a tapestry aside with his free hand and led her into the corridor behind.

"Remus, what is going on?" asked Sally, pulling her arm out of his grip and rubbing it. He turned to face her with a grave expression on his face.

"How did you find out?" he asked quietly. She looked at him for a moment, and then her jaw dropped slightly.

"It's true, then?" she asked, her voice squeaking. He sighed heavily, and then nodded. Sally made a noise and took a step back. A hurt look momentarily appeared on Remus' face but quickly left to be replaced by a blank expression.

"Run, then," he sighed, "I wouldn't blame you." He ran his hand through his hair. "Just…how'd you find out, Sally?"

"I…" she trailed off, thinking of Severus, but remembering what he said, "Had suspicions. Research and…I just guessed." She looked at him, shaking her head. "Remus, this is kind of a big deal. When were you going to tell me?"

"I don't know, Sally. I was trying to figure out how," he explained. "It's kind of a hard thing to tell someone. Especially someone you're really attached to." He gave her an uncertain look before looking down at his feet. "You hate me now. Afraid of me."

Sally looked at Remus. He looked like a child who had just been chastised for tracking mud through the house and was now being told his father would deal with him later. He looked nervous and scared and there was no way Sally could see this boy as a monster. Remus was her boyfriend. The same person she spent countless hours in secluded corners of the castle with; the same person who helped her with all those assignments. She'd be the first to admit, the idea of him being what he was scared her and she wasn't sure if she'd ever be able to see him in such a state. Yet how he was at that moment…That was Remus. That was _her_ Remus.

Sally licked her bottom lip, looking at him. She shook her head and went to close the space between them. He took several steps back until he met the wall behind him. She gave him a slight smile before taking his face in both of her hands, pulling him down to her height and kissed him. When she pulled away, he had a surprised look on his face.

"So…does this mean you still…" he trailed off, clearing his throat. "Want me?" Sally giggled, giving him another kiss on the lips.

"Yes, I do," she told him, "But you've got a lot of explaining to do." He nodded slowly.

"Fair enough," he sighed. "You might want to sit down, then. This might take a while." She stood two steps back and Remus slid down the wall into a sitting position on the floor. Sally sat herself next to him, slightly angled so she could see him better.

"So, what do you want to know?"

"Everything," said Sally shortly. "The scars, why you told your friends, how you get away with such a thing in a place like this." He nodded and smiled.

"I figured as much," he said. "Well, the scars are from when I was attacked as a child…"

Remus went on to explain everything Sally wanted to know. He was afraid to go into detail about anything at first, but at her pressing for more, he told her _everything_. At times, Sally made a face and he'd stop and tell her it was alright to leave at any time, but she would just shake her head and tell him she wasn't going anywhere. When he was finished, Sally sat there and thought for a while. It was a lot to take in and a lot more to try and be okay with it, but for Remus, she would try.

"Do you want to run yet?" questioned Remus after a few minutes of silence. Sally shook her head and leaned over to give him a kiss.

"I'm not going anywhere, Remus," she told him. "I promise you, I'm not going anywhere." He smiled and grabbed her hand.

"Thank you, Sally. Thank you so, so much." He smiled at her and she smiled back.

"Thank you for finally being totally honest with me," she said. She looked down at their hands and then back at Remus.

"You realize we just skipped an entire lesson, right?" she asked. He shrugged.

"I don't really care, Sally. Not at all." He leaned over and kissed her again, perfectly content with staying with his girlfriend, and enjoying the newfound harmony between the two.


End file.
